


Black on Barry

by Green_Sphynx



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Multi, No tragedy but not 'everything is fixed and happy now' either, Relationship tags are both minor relationship, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Things you said prompts, True relationships are Dig/Lyla and Curtis/Paul, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 06:45:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17055131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Green_Sphynx/pseuds/Green_Sphynx
Summary: Barry doesn't have a soulmate. But he does get soulmarks sometimes, when someone says something that has meaning for him. The words appearing on his skin in black just never belong to his soulmate, like everyone else's.





	Black on Barry

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts for this:  
> Joe 21. things you said when we were on top of the world  
> Diggle 14. things you said after you kissed me  
> James(SG) 15. things you said with too many miles between us  
> Wally 2. things you said through your teeth  
> Curtis 9. things you said when i was crying

Barry didn't have a soulmate.

It was really upsetting when he first learnt about it. Every day, something your soulmate said that day that was significant in one way or another would appear on your skin, _somewhere_ on your body that was supposedly of some importance to the soulmate or the quote. They told him so in kindergarten, and he didn't have any of that.

He got to know Iris, but nothing she ever said appeared on his skin.

They told him his soulmate might not be born yet. Age differences between soulmates weren't that strange, so Barry found peace with that for a while.

Until one day at school, after Barry won with his science assignment and Iris kissed him on the cheek. Black lettering bloomed below his jaw down into his neckline and it had Iris gasp in surprise and back off.

"Barry! Your soulmate!" She squinted and turned her head. "Hey, I just told Patricia she was wrong too like, an hour ago." She hooked a finger in his collar, trying to peer down his shirt for the rest of the words, but Barry quickly shoved her away, face bright red.

He didn't waste time getting to the school bathrooms and checking the mirror. He could just read _'You're wrong, Ba-'_ before It was cut off by his shirt.

Pulling off his shirt reveal the rest of it.

_'You're wrong, Barry is winning this!'_

If Barry had been proud before for winning something, he sure was proud _now_. This was definitely something Iris said, in clean black on his skin. He should feel puzzled by the markings only appearing now when they were already twelve years old, but he was too excited to dwell on it.

He couldn't wait to show Joe.

Joe, however, wasn't going to be home tonight because of work. Barry was bouncing in excitement the whole evening, was even tempted to stay and wait up for Joe but realised he'd get in trouble instead of a nice happy reaction if he did. So he went to bed early, tossed and turned for an hour and then slept as the dead like always until his alarm woke him.

He flew down the stairs to find Joe at the breakfast table, looking rather groggy over his coffee because of the late night, but _there_ and ready to listen. Joe always listened.

"Joe, Joe! I got my first soulmark yesterday! Look!" Barry pulled his pyjama shirt over his head to point at the letters down his throat and over his throat, only to find his skin blank and stark white.

Barry gaped in disbelief. Did he make it up? No, Iris had seen it too! He had had the soulmark!

But Joe was laughing, looking way too amused considering Barry was having a crisis.

"Barry, come over here." Joe beckoned him to the table, his laughter dying into that fatherly smile that had made Barry so angry for months after moving in with Joe and Iris. "It's normal for the words to disappear by morning. You get a new one every day."

"But… I only got the one at like, half past three?"

Joe nodded, pulling Barry in for a hug. "And today you'll get one whenever your soulmate says the words."

"What words?"

Joe shrugged, but was still smiling. "Nobody knows. But if she speaks, there will be words."

Barry pulled out of the hug to grin at Joe. "I'm sure it's Iris! She kissed my cheek for winning the science assignment and then the words appeared, and she said she said them earlier to someone else!"

"Really now?" Joe was chuckling again, but Barry assumed he was just happy for him. "So what about her soulmarks never matching your words?"

"It _has_ to be Iris! Today I'm going to listen to _everything_ she says to make sure."

"If you say so." Joe squeezed him close for a last hug before letting Barry go. "But remember, soulmates aren't everything, nor are they the magic spell to happiness. They can still break your heart and you can still break theirs. So be careful Barry, and don't trust too easily."

 

Barry learnt his lesson when he stepped into the shower to find new words scrawled over the artery in his inner thigh down to his knee.

_'They can still break your heart and you can still break theirs.'_

 

* * *

 

 

Barry didn't have a soulmate.

Normal people would get a quote from their soulmate scrawled over their skin in black every day. Usually significant, sometimes random. He'd watched it on Iris and Joe's skin whenever the soulmark appeared somewhere he could see it, although it was usually hidden by clothes.

It had taken a lot of tears and self-hatred for Barry to accept the truth: He was not destined to be with anybody.

He got quotes on his skin though, albeit it sporadically. Always something that was related to him or important to him to hear. It was often something said by Iris or Joe, or by one of his teachers in school. It was painfully often something said by one of his bullies, but soothingly more as well by boyfriends and girlfriends over the years.

But it was always the words of someone who didn't get Barry's words on their skin in return.

He had made peace with it, eventually. He was not going to get that pure, soulmate love. But the fact that he got quotes from so many people? He decided to interpret that as meaning that _everyone_ was his soulmate. _Take that, world_.

He hadn't had a soulmark in over a week when he found himself sitting in the Arrow Cave, waiting for Oliver to return from the mission they'd been on together moments ago. Felicity wasn't there, but John Diggle was, stoically cleaning a gun.

Barry stared at him unabashedly for a while, curious about the man and his soulmate. His thoughts always dwelt to soulmates and soulmarks ridiculously quick when he got bored, like an obsession. Barry supposed he really _was_ obsessed, just because he didn't get to have a soulmate of his own.

Still, it came as a surprise to see Dig's soulmark of the day appear before his eyes.

The black mark, in fine, elegant writing, appeared over Dig's cheek from the middle out. _'Fine, have it your way.'_

It didn't look significant, but that might depend on the person. In any case, a visible soulmark was considered embarrassing, and Dig wouldn't find out until he looked into a mirror, so it was really Barry's socially awkward obligation to mention it - like a splotch of sauce on someone's face.

"Uhm, Dig?" Barry cleared his throat awkwardly, but Dig glanced up immediately, eyes sharp, alert.

"You got, uh…" Barry tapped his cheek to indicate the side. "Your soulmark on your cheek."

Dig's eyes widened, and the next moment he actually looked _bashful_. That piqued Barry's interest alright.

"It's nothing embarrassing," Barry was quick to reassure, now sounding a little more curious than he should. "It's says _'fine, have it your way'_. Looks pretty random to me."

"Yeah… that sounds like something Lyla would say."

"Lyla?" Barry scooted closer, all curiosity and wide eyes now. "You know your soulmate? I didn't know you were together with someone!"

"I'm not." Dig scratched his neck uncomfortably. "We were together, but we got divorced."

"Divorced? From your soulmate? Why?"

"It didn't work."

Barry watched Dig close up before his eyes. Whatever moment of sharing there had been, it was being locked away again. Dig was even worse with that than Oliver, although Barry had been told Oliver was just particularly open towards him specifically. He wouldn't call Oliver anything _near_ open, if asked.

The only thing Barry could think of was lean in and brush his lips over the black letters.

They both backed away in surprise immediately - Barry as shocked by his own straightforwardness as Dig.

"I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that! I just thought- since you broke up with your _soulmate_ you must be hurting, and I wanted to be nice, but that was uncalled for and crossing a line and I really shouldn't have done-"

Barry found himself abruptly silenced by lips on his own. His breath hitched; Dig's lips were chapped and hot, but not particularly soft. They were demanding and hesitant both at once, and exploring something that neither was sure should be explored.

Dig pulled away with a look of embarrassment, and Barry couldn't do anything but gape with his face bright red.

"I-I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Please forget I did that."

Dig stormed out of the room, leaving the fastest man alive shocked silent in the Arrow cave for Oliver to find five minutes later.

 

When Oliver did bustle in, Barry finally managed to blink away his shock and glance around.

"Hey, Barry? You got your soulmark on your cheek." Oliver placed his bow in the stand without looking, eyes fixated on Barry's face. "It says _'Please forget I did that'_ , so you might want to cover it up."

 

* * *

 

 

Barry didn't have a soulmate.

But he had a whole lot of friends, and that was worth more than a single soulmate. Probably. I was no use to keep dreaming about something he couldn't have, and being happy with what he _did_ have was a lot more satisfactory.

Like friendships _across_ the multiverse. Now who could say that they were friends with an indestructible woman named Supergirl in a completely different universe, right? Not many people - nor Barry really, not without being dubbed 'completely nuts'.

And if he ran all the way to Earth-38 to find out that Supergirl was busy to hang out, well, he knew more people here. Like Winn.

Winn, who he surprisingly found sitting in a closed van decked out with computers on the inside like some A.R.G.U.S. vehicle.

A closed van wherein they were joined by a guy in a metal suit when Winn flapped his mouth silently for a bit too long when he and Barry were in a stare-down - or gape-down, really.

It all made more sense when James turned out to be hidden under the helmet and they explained he was Guardian now. It actually got Barry really excited, knowing another hero, and he even promised not to tell Kara. Instead he gave James a hand in his evening patrols so he could give a few pro-tips here and there, and if it bothered James - no _Guardian_ \- that the Flash was doing all his work before he could even tell Winn he copied, then Barry sure couldn't see it under that helmet.

Barry was pretty pleased by the time they left to go home, and he had James give him his number so he would be able to contact him next time he hopped over to Earth-38.

His next visit to Earth-38 he actually went to watch Guardian at work first, which got him chewed out by Kara later because she had heard him arrive and had gotten worried when he didn't show up in front of her for hours.

So the visit after he made sure to go for Kara first, only to find her and her friends - including James - at a bar… full of interesting looking people.

"Barry!" Kara was already smiling brightly and waving him over to their table before he could make his presence known - or leave and let them have their night of friends without him. "Come here, come here! I haven't seen you since that whole Dominator thing! How was the clean-up?"

"Ah- yeah, that was bad." Barry laughed awkwardly as he joined them at the table, suddenly very happy he had changed into normal clothes when he had realised where she was. "Not as bad as the whole Savitar thing though."

Kara winced empathically. "Still didn't beat him, huh?"

"Hah, not even close."

"Sounds like you're here for a distraction!" A guy Barry didn't know grinned brightly. "Let me mix you up a drink, I work here."

"And by 'work', he means 'drink'." Kara informed Barry. "This is Mon-El, by the way. Mon-El, meet Barry."

Barry laughed awkwardly, eyes flitting to James to his side before shaking Mon-El's hand - and damn that was a firm handshake. "Nice to meet you - but I'll be fine with just water. Alcohol doesn't work on me."

Like they were magic words, an evil glint appeared in Mon-El's eyes. "Doesn't work on you? We'll see about that." And with that he left for the bar.

James nudged Barry's side amicably for his attention. "He got Kara completely smashed once, and alcohol doesn't work on her either. I'll make sure you end up on my couch tonight if you get too drunk to run home."

Barry just laughed nervously in response. "Thanks man."

 

Barry did end up on James' couch and only ran home late the next day to find a very upset Iris at how he left at such a crucial time. He apologised profusely and worked hard to make up for it, so he only found he had a soulmark that day late at night after coming home, likely shortly before the words would disappear from his arm again.

_'But no guy should be allowed to look so cute while drooling on my couch.'_

Barry scoffed and shook his head sadly. It was really too bad that James had a soulmate that wasn't Barry as well, just like all the others.

 

* * *

 

 

Barry didn't have a soulmate.

And for all the love he missed out on by not having a soulmate, he loved the people around him _more_. His family and his friends got unconditional love, no matter if they were in a rough spot or if it was all roses. He loved them and held them close to his heart.

So he barely even noticed how bad his start with Wally was. He wasn't trying to be distant or rude or anything, but he was too busy keeping his life as the Flash a secret from his new foster brother to notice what he was doing wrong. And Wally… well, a barely out of his teens young man who just lost his mother and only met his father and sister for the first time at this age; it was no wonder that he was not entirely convinced about this white guy in the family who was both praised to the heavens but too awkward to have anything to show for it.

But even if they started on the wrong foot, it got better. Especially after Wally found out about Barry being the Flash, and even more so when he became Kid Flash. Despite how insistent Joe and Iris were about Wally staying out of danger and taking it slow, Barry was loving having Wally by his side.

Especially once he started listening to Barry's instructions.

It was good having backup. Sometimes it was a worry, knowing Wally was right there and in danger, but more often than not they worked together like an oiled machine. Where Barry missed, Wally caught up, and vice versa. Barry by himself was a speeding bullet, but together they were a net to capture both victims and criminals at once.

And the way Wally beamed under the positive attention was too endearing for Barry to even consider being jealous. Not that it stopped him from teasing, mind you.

But then sometimes… sometimes his worry for Wally _did_ overpower his happiness to have a sidekick like Kid Flash.

And that sometimes was whenever Wally got hurt on his watch.

The meta of the week was big and _strong_ and had somehow managed to snatch Wally out of the air mid-sprint, using Kid Flash' own momentum to launch him up into the air and against the stone wall of an apartment building. Barry came to a skidding halt as he heard the shouts for Wally over the comms, turning just in time to see Wally's body starting to fall, limp after the impact.

Barry cursed under his breath - that impact had been bad enough, but if Wally fell from that height he'd go splat on the asphalt below - sprinting off as fast as he could to meet Wally's falling body halfway.

_It was a bit like watching himself fall after Savitar flung him around like a puppet the first time._

Their bodies hit with an impact despite Barry's attempts to catch Wally as smoothly as possible, and he ran the last two stories down again to put Wally on the ground. Wally was groaning but not unconscious, so that was a good thing.

"Hey, Wally. You alright there, man?" Barry gently patted Wally's cheek with the flat of his hand, trying to get the kid's attention. Wally's eyes were unfocused for a moment longer after he lifted his head, but then he appeared to snap out of it.

"Ow…"

"Stay put, I'll light this meta up." Barry cupped Wally's face in his hand properly for a reassuring little squeeze. "I'll be right back with you to get you back to S.T.A.R. Labs safe. You've done well, Wally."

"Get'm Flash," Wally groaned, teeth clenched in pain, and Barry offered him a bright smile.

"Will do, Kid Flash."

 

Lacking a soulmate, Barry was always a shy about his soulmarks, hiding them as best as he could. It was very awkward when someone who didn't know Barry had no soulmate saw their own words on Barry's skin.

This time he stopped halfway changing back into his normal clothes, leaving his shirt off while walking back into the cortex to check on Wally. This time he was proud with the black letters right below his heart saying _'Get'm Flash'_.

 

* * *

 

 

Barry didn't have a soulmate.

Curtis did have a soulmate, and he married the guy too. But Curtis' choices in life had lead them to divorce, and now Curtis was cursed to see one thing his ex said every day, written in sharp black letters on his skin.

Barry had no such curse. He had no soulmate ex, nor a soulmate in his future. All he had was random sentences on his skin from one person or another, as long as it had to do _something_ with him. He'd gotten words from complete strangers who just gushed about the Flash; or shat on the Flash behind his back for being a vigilante like the Green Arrow. It was a hit and miss, trying to get cheered up by the words appearing on his skin.

But for Curtis it was always something depressing, no matter what, and Barry could feel for him. Curtis was a good guy and he deserved better. He deserved a soulmate who didn't leave him just because he wanted to make the world a better place at the risk of his own life.

Barry hadn't expected to connect so much with Curtis when he first met him. He seemed to be just another guy; a genius recruited by Oliver like Oliver tended to recruit the best and brightest. But Curtis stuck around, as did Barry, and they ended up having _conversations,_ and then they ended up having a _connection_. It was all very unexpected, but very welcome at the same time.

Barry found a friend in Curtis. A friend who could grasp his pain about his soulmarks, even if he didn't experience the same. Soulmarks from a soulmate that was never his to have. They could suffer together, and as depressing as that sounded it really did bring them together.

Sometimes Curtis would break down when his soulmark said something particularly poignant. Something that reminded him too much of the privilege of being with the love of his life, or something that was just too personal. Something that struck too close to home. Barry hadn't hesitated a single time to draw Curtis close in a tight hug and comfort him, hushing his muffled sobs of abandonment and encouraging his gasps of _moving on_. Barry never had trouble to be there for his friends, and Curtis was no difference - rather a prime example.

But sometimes - _very rarely -_ it was Barry who broke down. It was Barry who was gathered up in his friend's arms and hushed and cooed at to dry his tears, because his soulmark of the day had been Iris' words. Iris, whose soulmate was _Eddie Thawne_ and who was happily married to said soulmate. Iris, who was his best friend and said so many significant things to him that he found his soulmark of the day to be a sentence of hers almost every week. Iris, who he had loved all his life, but knew he could never have.

But Curtis understood after his own loss, and he would hold Barry tight and kiss the top of his head and hush him gently, because Barry would do the same thing for him whenever his soulmark was something particularly tough to handle. They understood each other, and formed a friendship neither could have ever seen coming.

"You're not alone," Curtis promised him, his own cheeks barely dry from his breakdown earlier. But Barry's soulmark had appeared before their eyes on the back of his hand, and it was Iris speaking to Eddie in the middle of the night about her best friend and foster brother. It was happy and positive and it made Barry hurt all the more. "I'm here for you, just like you are for me."

Curtis was a surprising but very good friend. And if Barry accidentally ended up kissing him in his despair, well, apparently neither of them were too bothered by it. Because Curtis responded to it by kissing back, and somehow it all devolved into them making out in the double bed that once belonged to Curtis and his husband, but now defiled by Curtis and Barry.

It was nice, not having to hide his powers. It was nice, being allowed to vibrate when his body decided to against better judgement, and for Curtis to react with gasps and moans of pleasure. It was a good thing, to be with someone who _understood_ him.

 

And yet, it made Barry cry all the harder when in the morning he had words scrawled over his wrist, over his pulse. _'I've got you Barry, you're not alone in this.'_


End file.
